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Meet the Cast and Crew

Meet the Cast and Crew

Actors

Elessia Dell'Unto (Concetta)

Elessia is in her third year in the Concurrent Teacher Education Program and is completing a Double Major in Mathematics and Italian. As a result of her participation in and the overall success of La Calandria (2011), she has taken the theatre course again so she can extend the unforgettable experience to this year’s production.

Andrea Canonico (Emcee)

Andrea will be graduating from UTM with a Specialist in Italian Studies and a Minor in English. She is very excited to be a part of Maschere Duemondi, not only to further her knowledge of Italian, but to bring its culture to the stage. This course is a great way for her to work on her shyness! Andrea is very glad that Professoressa Lobalsamo recommended the course and hopes to make lots of memories and friendships from it.

Stewart Arevalo (Bilasi)

Stew is an Argentinian native, currently in his fourth year at UTM and working towards a Specialist in Italian and a Minor in French. He is also the head coach of the UTM Tri Campus Men's and Women's volleyball teams. His goal is to coach professional volleyball in Europe with the knowledge of languages he is acquiring at UTM. This Italian Theatre course is his favourite class and he is excited to participate in it together with his fellow actors and classmates. For the first time in his life, he will be part of a play in Italian, which will increase his already great appreciation for the language.

Sylvia Grande (Lia)

Sylvia began studying Drama, Musical Theatre, and Italian at a young age and her interests in those subject matters followed her to UTM. In fact, at UTM, it quickly became clear that this course, Italian Theatre and Performance, would provide the perfect setting for her to blend her interests with her acting skills!

Luigi Giangrande (Charlie)

Luigi is an Italian native in his second year at the University of Toronto, working towards a Specialist in Italian and English and a Minor in History. This is his second consecutive time in the Italian play and hopes that this year’s performance will be just as fun as La Calandria (2011)!

Katherine Zuraw (Mariuzza)

Katherine is in her third year at UTM, working towards a Double Major in Psychology and French Teaching and Learning, as well as a Minor in Italian. She has always had a strong interest in languages and the opportunity to act in this year’s Italian play is sure to create many unforgettable experiences for her; especially since this is her first time taking part in a live performance.

Matthew Lima ('Ntoniu, Mamma 'Ranni)

This is Matthew’s last year at UTM and his fifth performance with the Maschere Duemondi. For Matthew, this has been an honour, a pleasure, and a privilege to have been part of such an amazing learning and language experience (and very much so, a labour of love). A giant thanks goes to the actors and crew for all of their love and dedication, and to the professors for their guidance, wisdom and support, all of which serve as a testament to the strength and beauty of the Italian culture at UTM which have made his journey in the field of Italian Studies most rewarding.

Carla Romeo (Vita)

Carla is in her second year at the University of Toronto Mississauga. As an Italian and French Specialist, she is interested in improving her Italian in a fun environment and in working with creative faculty members and students. Carla is proud to be participating in the 25th anniversary production of Maschere Duemondi.

Jenna Spagnuolo (Teresa)

Jenna is in third year in the Concurrent Teacher Education Program at UTM, completing a Double Major in French and Italian Studies. This course has enabled her to combine her interest in Italian with her passion for the theatre and she is excited to bring her cheerful enthusiasm to her role to her second production.

Stage Managers

Krista Anania

Krista is in her fourth year of study at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Her Major is Religion and her Minors are in Philosophy and Italian. Io non mi marito per procura is the second play in which Krista will be taking part. As part of the production team, she has a view into the overall hard work and dedication that goes into the making of all of the plays presented by Maschere Duemondi - the whole class works together as a team to put on an amazing production. Of course, this play would be nothing without the impeccable guidance of Professors Lobalsamo and Debattista.

Elisa Sturino

Elisa is currently in her fourth year at the University of Toronto Mississauga. She is majoring in Geography, but has taken considerable interest in studying the Italian language. She is extremely excited to share the stage with such dedicated and creative individuals. Behind the scenes, her team has also exemplified devotion to fundraising, props, costume, set building, and make-up that have been essential to the performances. Today, we aim at celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Italian theatre experience at UTM, as it will be the best one yet!

Helena Alcamo

Helena is currently in her fourth year at UTM studying Italian, Religion, and Philosophy. She thoroughly enjoyed working behind the scenes in last year's production, La Calandria and is grateful for the opportunity to participate in this year’s play as well. Working with Teresa, Jeannine, and the talented cast has been a truly rewarding and unforgettable experience.

Directors

Jeannine Debattista

Jeannine has been teaching at UTM for four years and this is her second time working on the Italian play with Teresa Lobalsamo. She is excited for this year’s event and Io non mi marito per procura has taught her a lot about the immigrant experience and about the blended language of Italiese.

Teresa Lobalsamo

Teresa has been part of the UTM team since 2002. This is her second consecutive year directing the Language Studies' Italian production. Together with Jeannine Debattista, the two promise to top the success of last year's play. Io non mi marito per procura combines comedy with a theme that was and still is close to many people's hearts - finding the best way to "marry" two worlds: the home land and the new land. Teresa is confident that this show will be worthy of the previous 24 years of innovation and dedication affixed to it by her colleagues and friends Salvatore Bancheri, Michael Lettieri, and Guido Pugliese, by the Department of Language Studies and UTM, and by the Italian Community throughout the GTA. A heartfelt thank you is extended to her family and friends for their support and for providing much of the authenticity that lay (not too far) beneath the characters - their personalities and their stories. Our production is dedicated to Lina Riccobene, for providing such a wonderfully real canvas on which to work, and to all the bisnonni, nonni, mamme and papà who created a new path for themselves that would later become the smoother road on which future generations could easily travel.

This show was performed in memory of the late Gianrenzo Clivio, who first introduced us all to the study of Italiese.